Letting Go: Part 2 — When it’s time for palliative care

My husband’s dementia has provided me with an early education in healthcare topics I’d just as soon have waited to learn.

Robert’s dementia has provided me with an early education in healthcare topics I’d just as soon have waited to learn: everything from the symptoms and diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia and its variants to traveling toenail maintenance services.

It is astounding how long the human body will fight and persist in the face of impossible odds. Even as Robert has declined and the quality of his life isn’t what any of us would wish for ourselves or our loved ones, his body keeps on. To be fair, he’s been pretty happy along the way. The dementia patient doesn’t know what they don’t know. Or maybe at their core, they understand it all. We have this one precious life. We hold on with all our might.

Another last time

Our most recent visit to the clinic would be our last. Getting Robert into my car required a series of carefully orchestrated maneuvers and many assurances that he would not fall, “I’ve got you, honey.”

First I guided Robert to the Camry. I shuffled him into position roughly parallel to the passenger seat.

Tapping on his left leg, I said “Can you lift your leg into the car, sweetie?”